Red Bull is absolutely not gonna happen. Marko and Horner have stated that they don’t hire outside their young drivers program and as good as Alonso is, Ricciardo and Verstappen are exceptional and get paid WAY less.

Agreed. Just commented on another article the other day about how shitty those fake plastic grilles on the rear look.

I have to agree on the looks. Those rear bumper grills are almost a deal breaker. They look ridiculous.

Renault flat out admitted that they cannot provide him a winning car next year and probably won’t be truly competitive until 2020. Sad to think the chances of seeing my favorite driver win the WDC one more time are slim. Unless he can hop back to Ferrari or go to Mercedes, I don’t see him winning.

Qualifying seventh was a miracle worthy of sainthood. He wouldn’t have been able to keep that position for long in the race but it shows that there may be some potential in that Honda engine. It was a bummer that he got caught up in the first lap antics. He certainly flattered the car but he still qualified as far…

I know a guy who was selected to buy one of the 2018 cars. He owns a shop that builds hot rods and has had one of his Mercury customs displayed at Sema. It’s cool that a normal person has the opportunity to own a limited production vehicle. He said he applied on a whim, never actually expecting to be selected and said…

Kind of?...

I agree about Cape May. Lovely place. And let’s not forget about how every “Italian” aka everyone who is at least 6.25% Italian, loves to bond with other “Italians” about the Italian traditions they practice. Sunday dinner, bro.

But that’s the thing, there’s always some dickhead driving 75 thinking that because they’re going over the posted speed limit by 10 mph, they’re good to simply sit in the left lane because they’re passing someone. Sorry I’m going 85, get the hell out of the left lane because I’m trying to pass and when someone rolls…

According to Adrian Newey it’s a “large visual change for what is, in fact, a rather small aerodynamic effect.”

Agreed. It’s clear the car has the pace and the drivers are good, but it seems fragile. I’m guessing the problem is something that Haas has designed because the Ferrari PU is looking decently reliable this season.

The fourth competitive car is Kimi. I’m saying four competitive cars because we have two front running teams each fielding two drivers that could conceivably win. Is Bottas better than Hamilton? No. Is Kimi better than Vettel? No. Doesn’t mean they can’t take race wins. Rosberg isn’t better than Lewis either and he…

But how many were there at the front last year? Frankly that’s all I care about. Midfield battles are great but we want multiple cars in contention for the titles.

The RB is purposely lacking downforce. Newey has admitted that it’s necessary to overcome the horsepower deficit. It’s been designed that way since 2015. He’s not infallible, but he’s had so few failures in his career that it’s safe to assume that the design is at least as good as Merc and Ferrari.

It is only the first race but Ferrari looked undeniably strong. Hamilton could have been right behind Vettel and he still would have had problems. The Merc was not looking after its tires well enough.

Yea, it’s clear they focused hard on strategy over the winter because it’s been a small disaster for a while. Without question, it’s cost them several race wins and cost Alonso a WDC. Good to see an improvement that allowed them to one up Mercedes who has, by all accounts, had pretty impeccable strategy the past few…

Immediate thoughts on the race:

I didn’t like Top Gear USA because the hosts didn’t have the same chemistry as Clarkson, Hammond and May but they tried to force the same exact format. It wound up feeling scripted. Frankly if Top Gear in general would script a little less, it’d be better. Even the current Top Gear with LeBlanc, Harris and Reid is…

But when Honda engines dominated 6 years of the decade that’s arguably the most iconic in F1 history, it makes up for (some of) the many years of poor performance post 1992. Let’s be honest, between 86 and 91, Honda was the ticket to GP glory. And really, I think their cars were worse than the engines in the early…

I think some people are taking this a bit too seriously.